Why is Machoke‘s post-trade max CP lower when it’s currently 100%?

Question

I was swapping Pokemon with a fellow trainer, and I ran into something interesting that I could not find an explanation too.

While searching through my list, I saw I had a Machoke favorited. I clicked it and then checked its IVs. It was a 100%, and was about to back out and select something the different. Before backing out, I noticed the Machoke’s maximum post-trade CP was less than its current CP.

When trading, the IV ranges are re-rolled with a minimum IV range based on various factors and max IV range of 15/15/15. I would have expected the max post-trade CP to be equal to its current CP. I check a few other 100%s, and this was not the case

What’s different about this Machoke that would cause the maximum CP to be different while at 100%?

Answer 1

I was able to figure it out. This was something that could not be easily determined in Pokemon Go itself. I ended up having to use a 3rd party app that performs IV and CP calculations.

Every time you power up a Pokemon, the hidden level attribute is increased by half a level. After plugging in numbers into the app, it calculated the Machoke’s level was 33.5. Based on these calculations, and the new CP for Machoke, it appears that trading rounds your Pokemon’s level down rather than keeping the half level.

I further validated this by testing it out with the Azumarill and Snivy. I powered them both up by once, effectively increasing their level by .5. As expected, the results were the same with Machoke. Their new maximum CP was equal to their CP prior to powering up